and fupport to carry him through it, though not as to deliver ance, or exemption from it.

Now, O that these things might abide with you, and be reduced to practice in thefe evil days, that many trembling fouls may be established by them.

Seafon 5. The fifth feafon to excite this diligence in keeping the heart, is a time of ftraits and outward pinching wants; although at fuch times we should complain to God, and not of God, (the throne of grace being erected for a time of need, Heb. iv. 16.) yet when the waters of relief run low, and want begins to pinch hard, how prone are the best hearts to distrust the fountain! when the meal in the barrel, and the oil in the 'cruise are almost spent, our faith and patience are almost spent too. Now it is difficult to keep down the proud and unbelieving heart in an holy quietude and fweet fubmiffion at the foot of God. It is an eaty thing to talk of trufting God for daily bread, while we have a full barn or purfe; but to fay, as the • prophet, Hab. iii. 17. "Though the fig tree fhould not blof"fom, neither fruit be in the vine, &c. yet will I rejoice in "the Lord:" furely this is not eafy. The fifth cafe there fore fhall be this:

Cafe 5. How a Chriftian may keep his heart from diftrufting God, or repining against him, when outward wants are either. felt or feared.

This cafe deferves to be seriously pondered, and especially to be studied now, fince it feems to be the defign of providence to empty the people of God of their creature-fulness, and acquaint them with thofe ftraits which hitherto they have been altogether Grangers to.

Now, to fecure the heart from the afore-mentioned dangers attending this condition, thefe following confiderations, through the bleffings of the Spirit, may prove effectual. And the first is this:

Confideration 1. That if God reduce you to fraits and neceffi ties, yet he deals no otherwise therein with you, than he hath done with fome of the choiceft and holiest men that ever lived.

Your condition is not fingular; though you have hitherto been ftrangers to wants, other faints have daily converfed, and been familiarly acquainted with them. Hear what bleffed Paul fpeaks, not of himself only, but in the name of other faints reduced to like exigencies, 1 Cor. iv. II. "Even to this prefent "hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted, "and have no certain dwelling-place." To fee fuch a man as Paul going up and down the world with a naked back, and

empty belly, and not a houfe to put his head in, one that was fo far above thee in grace and holinefs, one that did more fervice for God in a day, than perhaps thou haft done in all thy days, and yet you repine as if hardly dealt with! Have you forgot what neceffities and ftraits even a David hath suffered? How great were his ftraits and neceffities? Sam. xxv. 8. "Give, I pray thee (faith he to Nabal) whatfoever cometh to "thy band, to thy fervants, and to thy fon David." Renowned Mufculus was forced to dig in the town-ditch for a mainteDance. Famous Ainfworth (as I have been credibly informed) was forced to tell the bed he lay on to buy bread. But what fpeak I of, thefe? Behold a greater than any of them, even the Son of God, "who is the heir of all things, and by whom the "worlds were made;" yet sometimes would have been glad of any thing, having nothing to eat, Mark xi. 12, 13. " And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hun. gry; and feeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves, he came, if haply he might find [any thing] thereon."

Well then, hereby God hath fet no mark of hatred upon you, neither can you infer the want of love from the want of bread. When thy repining heart puts the queftion, Was there ever any forrow like unto mine? Ask these worthies, and they will tell thee, though they did not complain and fret as thou doft, yet they were driven to as great firaits as thou art.

Confid 2. If God leave you not in this neceffitous condition without a promife, you have no reason to repine or defpond under

it.

That is a fad condition indeed, to which no promife belongs. I remember Mr Calvin, upon these words, Ifa. ix. 1. "Neverthe "less the dimness thall not be fuch as was in her vexation," ¿r. folves the doubt, in what fenfe the darknefs of the captivity was not fo great, as the leffer incurfions made by Tiglath Pelefer. In the captivity the city was deftroyed, and the temple burnt with fire, there was no comparison in the affliction; but yet the darkness should not be fuch, and the reafon (faith he) is this, Huic certam promiffionem effe additam, cum in prioribus nulle effet; (ie. there was a certain promise made to this, but none to the other.

It is better be as low as hell with a promife, than in paradife Without one. Even the darkness of hell itself would be comparatively no darkness at all, were there but a promise to enlighten it. Now God hath left many fweet promifes for the faith of his poor people to feed on in this condition: fuch are the a VOL. VII.

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Pfal. xxxiv. y, ro. "O fear the Lord, ye his faints, for there

is no want to them that fear him; the lions do lack and fuf"fer hunger, but they that fear the Lord fhall want nothing "that is good." Pfal. xxxiii. 18, 19. "The eye of the Lord

is upon the righteous, to keep them alive in famine." Pfil. Ixxxiv. 11. "No good thing will he with-hold from them that "walk uprightly." Rom. viii. 32. "He that spared not his own "Son, but delivered him up for us all, how fhall he not with "him alfo freely give us all things?" Ifa. xli. 17. "When the poor and the needy feek water, and there is none, and their "tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the "God of Ifrael will not forfake them." Here you fee, first, "their extreme wants, water being put even for the neceffaries of life. (2.) Their certain relief, I the Lord will hear them; in which it is fuppofed that they cry unto him in their straits; and he hears their cry,

Having therefore thefe promifes, why should not your dif trustful hearts conclude like David's, Pfal. xxiii. 1. "The Lord "is my Shepherd, I fhall not want."

Objection. But these promifes imply conditions; if they were abfolute, they would afford more fatisfaction.

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Solution. What are thofe tacit conditions you fpeak of, but thefe (1.) That either he will fupply or fanctify your wants: (2.) That you shall have so much as God fees fit for you. And doth this trouble you? Would you have the mercy whether fanctified or no? Whether God fees it fit for you or no? Methinks the appetites of faints after earthly things hould not be fo ravenous, to feize greedily upon any enjoyment, not caring how they have it.

But oh, when wants pinch, and we fee not whence fupplies fhould come, then our faith in the promise thakes, and we, like murmuring Ifrael, cry, "He gave bread, can he give water al"fo?" O unbelieving hearts! When did his promise fail? Who ever trufted them, and was afhamed? May not God upbraid thee with thine unreafonable infidelity; as Jer. i. 31. "Have I been a wilderness unto you?" &c. Or as Chrift faid to the difciples," Since I was with you, lacked ye any thing?" Yea, may you not upbraid yourselves, may you not fay with good old Polycarp, Thefe many years I have ferved Chrift, and found him a good mafter. Indeed he may deny what your wantonnefs, but not what your real wants call for. He will not regard the cry of your lufts, nor yet defpife the cry of your faith; though he will not indulge and humour your wanton appetites, yet he will not violate his own faithful promifes. These promifes

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are your best fecurity for eternal life; and it is firange if they fhould not fatisfy you for daily bread: remember ye the words of the Lord, and folace your hearts with them amidst all your wants. It is faid of Epicurus, that in the dreadful fits of the cholic, he often refreshed himfelf, Ob memoriam inventorum, by calling to mind his inventions in philosophy: and of Poffidonius the philofopher, that in a great fit of the ftone he folaced himself with difcourses of moral virtue and when the pain twinged him, he would fay, Nihil agis, dolor; quamvis fis moleftus, nunquam confitebor te effe malum: O pain, thou doft nothing; though thou art a little troublesome, I will never confefs thee to be evil. If upon fuch grounds as these they could fupport themselves under fuch grinding and racking pains, and even delude their diseases by them, how much rather should the precious promises of God, and the fweet experiences which have gone along step by step with them, make you to forget all your wants, and comfort you in every ftrait.

Confid. 3. If it be bad now, it might have been worse; hath God denied thee the comforts of this life? He might have denied thee Chrift, peace, and pardon alfo, and then thy cafe had been weful indeed. You know God hath done fo to millions in the world: how many fuch wretched objects may your eyes behold every day, that have no comfort in hand, nor yet in hope, are milerable here, and will be fo to eternity; that have a bitter cup, and nothing to fweeten it; no, not fo much as any hope that it will be better. But it is not fo with you, though you be poor in this world, "yet rich in faith, and heirs of the king, "dom which God hath promised," Jam. ii. 5. O learn to fet spiritual riches over against temporal poverty. Balance all your prefent troubles with your fpiritual privileges. Indeed if God had denied your fouls the robes of righteousness to cloath them,' the hidden manna to feed them, the heavenly manfions to receive them; if your fouls were left deftitute as well as your bodies, you might well be penfive; but this confideration hath enough to bring the confidering foul to reft under any outward frait. It was bravely faid by Luther, when want began to pinch him,' Let us be contented with our hard fare (faid he),

for do not we feaft with angels upon Chrift, the bread of life?' "And blessed be God (faith Paul) who hath abounded to us in "all fpiritual bleffings," Eph. i. 3..

Confid. 4. This affliction, though great, is not fuch an offic-. tion, but God hath far greater, with which he chaftifes the dearly beloved of his foul in this world; and fhould he remove this,

and inflict thofe, you would account your present state a very comfortable state, and bless God to be as now you are.

What think ye, firs? Should God remove your present troubles, fupply all your outward wants, give you the defire of your hearts in creature comforts, but hide his face from you, Thoot his arrows into your fouls, and cause the venom of them to drink up your fpirits? Should he leave you but a few days to the buffeting of Satan, and his blafphemous injection; fhould he hold your eyes but a few nights walking with horrors of confcience, toffing to and fro till the dawning of the day: fhould he lead you through the chambers of death, fhew you the vifions of darkness; and make his terrors fet themselves in array against you: Then tell me if you would not count it a choice mercy to be back again in your former neceffitous condition, with peace of confcience; and count bread and water, with God's favour, a happy state? O then, take heed of repining. Say not God deals hardly with you, left you provoke him to convince you, by your own fenfe and feeling, that he hath worle rods than thefe for unfubmiffive and froward children. Confid. 5. If it be bad now, it will be better shortly.

O keep thy heart by that confideration: the meal in the bar, rel is almost spent; well, be it fo, why fhould that trouble me, if I am almost beyond the need and use of all these things. The traveller hath spent almost all his money, but a fhilling of two left: well, faith he, though my money be almost spent, yet my journey is almost finished too; I am near home, and then I fhall be fully fupplied. If there be no candles in the houfe, yet it is a comfort to think that it is almoft day, and then there will be no need of candles. I am afraid, Chriftian, thou milreckoneft thyself, when thou thinkeft thy provifion is almost fpent, and you have a great way to travel; many years to live, and nothing to live upon; it may be not half fo many as thou fuppofeft; in this be confident, if thy provifion be spent, either fresh fupplies are coming, though thon feeft not from whence, or thou art nearer thy journey's end than thon reckonest thyself to be. Defponding foul, doth it become a man or woman travelling upon the road to that heavenly city, and almost arrived there, within a few days journey of his Father's houfe, where all his wants fhall be fupplied, to take on thus about a little. meat, drink, or cloaths, which he fears he hall want by the way? It was a noble faying of the forty Martyrs, famous in the Ecclefiaftical ftory, when turned out naked in, a frofty night to be ftarved to death, with thefe words they comforted one another, dvs xv, &c. The winter indeed is fharp and